UK Political weblog

Archive for the tag “Palestine”

Let’s put aside for a moment the actual and terrible events in France last week and take a look at what has happened since.

Thousands of people gather in demonstrations on the Saturday following and on on Sunday (11/01/15) over a million citizens march through Paris and World leaders fly in to France from all points of the compass in, as they say, a show of solidarity with France and in support of free speech and expression, including Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel where 17 Journalists were killed last summer 2014 by the Israeli Defence Force, plus four more languishing in Israeli jails. Journalists who reported the atrocities carried out by Israel in Palestine. This Paris march is not a spontaneous demonstration of anger, of collective grief or any other emotion, it was organised by the French government and they who created this mass hysteria. Why would they do this?

They do it for the same reason that the UK in London projected the french Tricolour onto buildings and the UK Prime Minister expresses the ‘need’ for more controls, more surveillance of the Internet and to close borders that are at present open for business and inter nation interaction. Governments generally seek more and more control over their citizens and seize upon any and every opportunity to increase their grip. The deaths of the 17 people in France is a tragedy of course but is a golden opportunity for governmental control freaks. Here in the UK we are the most watched people on Earth with CCTV cameras on nearly every corner, our emails and telephone calls are recorded, through various requirements our very existence is monitored from birth to death. Demonstrations are again controlled, filmed and participants ‘kettled’ to ensure maximum discomfort in the hope of putting people off taking part in the future. New laws are proposed to make strikes all but impossible and so forcing workers into virtual slavery.

They need the population to be afraid because the people will turn to government in hope of protection and will accept even more curtailment of their rights and their freedom. Without diminishing the horror of the terrorist killings, if looked at calmly and rationally it was no more than a couple of nasty traffic accidents and the chance of similar happening to any particular individual are miniscule almost to a vanishing point. Most people though do not react rationally but with emotion which is so easily manipulated by the powerful.

What the hell is happening to freedom of speech and expression in this country. Liberal Democrat MP is censured over his remarks about the appalling treatment of the Palestinians by Israel, I copy it here for you:-

” Mr Ward said he was “saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza”.

Now, what is unreasonable about that statement? There is another outcry regarding the cartoon by Gerald Scarfe in the Sunday Times which more forcefully expresses the same sentiment. Even Rupert Murdoch has been issuing grovelling apologies. Arguably it might have been insensitive to publish it on Holocaust Memorial Day although I would argue that there could hardly be a better time.

We are losing hard won freedoms and rights in this country on a regular basis and if we let freedom of speech slip through our fingers the future is not looking just bad, it is looking horrifying.

So, President Obama is to hold talks with Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president in the vain expectation that some progress might be made. Hammas who were fairly elected and control Gaza are not even invited. What is most likely to happen is some vague statement will be released and nothing will change.

Admittedly a solution will be hard to achieve but actually the ‘problem’ is simple. The problem is that a huge area of land was taken from the Palestinians at the end of WW2 and given to the Jews by the powerful nations who won the war. Since then Israel, as it became, has stolen more land on a regular basis. Some of the best agricultural land taken and has built settlements for it’s expanding population. In addition it has made life as difficult as possible for the Palestinians.

Israel depends on the USA for it’s military might and vast financial handouts. Should the US withdraw, or threaten seriously to withdraw, it’s support of the Israeli state unless it got back behind the original agreed borders, then Israel would have little choice than to talk meaningfully and peace would have a chance to grow and flourish. To be elected in the US a candidate generally requires the support of the huge Jewish vote and therefore this is unlikely to happen. More land will be stolen, more lives will be blighted and lost, both Palestinians and Israelis. Unless a US President of immense courage and stature should be elected. Is this Obama? Maybe but I doubt it.

Israel is set on occupying even more Palestinian land in defiance of international law, the United Nations and President Barack Obama.

Israel, the big bully of the middle east, must think itself immune to international opinion and above any normal sense of justice. The only nation capable of exerting the necessary pressure on this outlaw state is the United States. Let’s hope that at the forth coming talks between Ehud Barak and George Mitchell this much needed pressure is applied in full measure. Unless Israel is brought to heel there can only be more suffering and death in this beleaguered part of our World.

The last I heard from Israel was denying using white phosphorous bombs on Gaza. These disgusting weapons (aren’t they all) burn with great intensity and can only be put out by covering them and keeping them covered with sand. Should a piece of this substance strike a human being it will stick on and burn right through to the bones. These bombs are intended to provide smoke screens on the battlefield and are illegal to use against civilians. A question was asked in the Commons yesterday about mine clearance in Gazaen schools and the Minister confirmed a report by MAG that white phosphorous bomb parts had been removed. Q.E.D.

There are 157 UNICEF-supported schools in Gaza, and work with the Palestinian Ministry of Education identified 40 as high risk in terms of potential unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination. These schools have been visited by technicians from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG). During this clearance 40mm high explosive grenades, as well as 81mm and 120mm high explosive mortars, were removed. Remnants of exploded ordnance were also taken away, including parts of Hell Fire missiles and 155mm high explosive and white phosphorous artillery shells.

The Israeli bombardment of Gaza continues, with the body count now at around 850 with 265 children confirmed dead by the UN. Leaflets are dropped telling Palestinians that worse is to come so they should leave their homes and find safety. Gaza, one fifth the size of London, most of it’s borders abut Israel which has sealed them off and just a small crossing into Egypt, also closed. Just where are Palestinians supposed to hide?

This rogue State of Israel continues to ignore UN resolutions calling for a truce, with no International sanctions imposed upon it, thereby giving it a carte blanch to carry on with it’s terror. It is becoming obvious that the real aim behind this attack is to destroy much of the infrastructure of Gaza, leaving it totally devastated and even more impoverished. The expectation being that the Gazans will turn against Hamas and become compliant with every whim of Israel. I fear they will be sadly disappointed.

There is something that we can do on a practical level by supporting the Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign and not buying anything with the ‘made in Israel’ bar code commencing with 729.

The attack by Israel on Gaza escalates with more air attacks and now the beginnings of a ground invasion of troops. There are now approaching 400 deaths of people in Gaza including many women & children in response to four Israelis regrettably killed. If 400 Israelis had been killed there would be massive outrage and action taken by World Governments, are the lives of Palestinians worth so much less? I try to repress the notion that this death and destruction may be a part of an election campaign to be held in Israel in six weeks time.

Demonstrations all over the Globe are making no difference and there are the inevitable calls for a UN Security Council Resolution calling for Israeli restraint. Even if a resolution was passed without the US veto, what difference would this make.

“Israel, ….has been the subject of 138 resolutions. Not surprisingly, most of those resolutions call upon Israel to comply with basic principles of international law embodied by the UN Charter. Many of them condemn actions taken by Israel and call upon Israel on more than one occasion to comply with previous resolutions that Israel ignored and continues to ignore to this day.” (From Media Monitors)

In addition Israel has illegal nuclear weopons in defiance of International Law.

This country, Israel, considers itself above the Law and believes, I suspect, that the Holocaust sixty years ago absolves it from any condemnation of any action it may take. Well not any more, that was all several generations ago and Israel will be judged on its deeds. The US should find some courage, resist the Jewish vote and threaten to cease or reduce its financial support unless Israel returns to the original UN recognised borders and co-operates with it’s neighbours, including Palestine.

Israel is once again bombing Gaza and so killing and maiming hundreds of men women and children and of course destroying infrastructure. What amazes me is the utter stupidity of it all; it will not end the violence, it will only serve to increase it.

Palestinian dead (From BBC)

It doesn’t take much commonsense to put oneself into a Palestinian’s shoes. Let’s have a little go at it.

A huge portion of my land was stolen after the second world war and we became refugees in what was left of our own country. In 1966 even more land was seized by the Israelis who also controlled our supply routes which are frequently cut off by them. What little resistance we can put up by way of home made rockets and mortars are met with massive force from Israel by way of air attacks and incursions into Palestine with tanks and high explosives. The West, in particular the USA, supplies these advanced weapons and provides financial support on a huge scale. The Arab nations mutter condemnation of Israel but give us little by way of real assistance. The West calls for democratic elections and when we elect our choice in Hammas the West condemns our decision and helps implement sanctions against us.

They call us terroists when we fight with what we have for our freedom.

We who think freely can and must argue against this cruelty and lobby our elected leaders but we can also refuse to buy anything made in Israel. Look at the bar code of any potential purchase, the first three numbers denote country of origin and Israel’s is 729. The Boycott Israel Campaign gives more information on how to help.